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The Artificial Devil Fruit is an apple shaped fruit with a long stem that curls at the end. It is rather small compared to natural Devil Fruits, and due to being man-made, its patterning is also different: instead of swirls covering the fruit, it has ring patterns. While Vegapunk's failed version is light colored all the way with a long swirled stem,[1] the SMILEs manufactured through the co-operation of Caesar and Doflamingo are dark with light ring pattern with a short stem.[2]

Unlike a natural Devil Fruit, it does not seem to have an unimaginably horrible flavor that one would describe as to the point of taking poison, as Momonosuke ate the entire fruit in bites without recoiling at the very least.

The Artificial Devil Fruit is created based on Vegapunk's research on how Devil Fruits affect the user's "lineage factors" (血統因子,kettō inshi?), making practical applications of such effects on the blood.[3]

The fruit created by Vegapunk does not have a classified name due to being a failure.[1] It allows the user to transform into a pink, serpentine dragon that bears a resemblance to the Chinese or Japanese variety. As such, it could almost be considered a Mythical Zoan type.

It is later revealed that Momonosuke got changed into a dragon (龍,Ryū?),[4] shown to have an oriental appearance compared to the dragons encountered earlier by the Straw Hats, and the power to produce clouds. He was found in the garbage dump by Luffy after his battle with Monet and later explained about how he ate an artificial Zoan-type Devil Fruit. Momonosuke originally ate the fruit on a whim to fight off hunger.

He also gained the ability to generate semi-solid clouds that could also be used as stepping stones, giving the appearance of flight. He unconsciously used the ability to generate clouds to climb upwards, enough to run back up the many-stories tall garbage chute of Punk Hazard.

Due to being a failure, it seems to have flaws. His transformed size seems to be inferior compared to a natural Zoan-class Devil Fruit user's full-form transformation, as he was barely big enough to carry Monkey D. Luffy, a normal-sized human. A few moments after consuming it, Momonosuke transformed automatically, and he claimed that he does not know how to revert to human form. Later he was shown to be able to accomplish the task, albeit ending up completely naked, which is unlike that of a natural Zoan.[5] This fruit grants the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses, as shown when Momonosuke could not swim.[6]

However, these flaws could also be easily attributed to a lack of experience. His Zoan can be easily explained by his young and relatively weak human form. He could have accidentally discarded his clothes when he transformed. Until Momonosuke grows and understands how to utilize his Devil Fruit powers, it can only be theorized if the Artifical Devil Fruit was really a failure or not.